Rule of the Bone [Paperback]

Russell Banks (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers (May 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0614977797
• ISBN-13: 978-0614977790
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (213 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Russell Banks is the author of sixteen works of fiction, many of which depict seismic events in US history, such as the fictionalized journey of John Brown in Cloudsplitter. His work has been translated into twenty languages and has received numerous international prizes, and two of his novels-The Sweet Hereafter and Affliction-have been made into award-winning films. His forthcoming novel, The Reserve, will be published in early 2008. President of the International Parliament of Writers and former New York State Author, Banks lives in upstate New York.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

73 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A GREAT COMING OF AGE NOVEL, June 13, 2000

By 

M. G. Jamison (Fairlawn, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Rule of the Bone: A Novel (Paperback)

I teach high school English, mostly American lit, and without having read this book myself I recommended it to one of my sophomore students for a free-reading unit we were doing. He read it in three days and loved it. I quickly finished the book I had chosen (A STAR CALLED HENRY) and picked up his copy of RULE. I had never read Banks, except for a few short stories here and there, but now I am a complete convert (so much so, in fact, that I'm reading CLOUDSPLITTER now, which makes RULE seem like an even better book than i first thought). i noticed that one reviewer wrote that Banks had gotten the voice of the narrator all wrong. That reader apparently does not spend the majority of his waking hours with teenagers. I do. And let me say that the narration is dead on in every respect. So often critics claim to have discovered the next CATCHER IN THE RYE or the heir to HUCKLEBERRY FINN and never before have I agreed until now. RULE OF THE BONE is a beautiful novel with something real at stake, perhaps something more real than Holden Caufield's three-day ramble (and certainly more engaging). Bone's journey to himself (his "I-self") is visceral and funny and sad and moving. I plan to teach it next year in my modern novel course.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not your traditional novel, November 12, 2005

By 

Justin L (Santa Monica, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rule of the Bone: A Novel (Paperback)

Rule of the Bone by Russell Banks was very unpredictable and thus made it very enjoyable to read. The style of writing and storytelling made me feel I was in the journey through life with the main character Bone. Banks' verbose style and lack of punctuation constucted Bone in a very accurate manner. Many young people can relate especially if they are in the same situation as Bone. Also, the slim chances of unusual events taking place became normal in the novel and later in the story it turned out to be imminent. The traditional story-line was broken in many different ways. Don't try to guess what will happen. Read the book. You will be surprised how many plot-twisting occurances happen.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Typical Banks, February 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Rule of the Bone: A Novel (Paperback)

Saying Rule of the Bone is typical Banks is a good thing. He writes compelling stories with an edge that never lets you feel too comfortable or become too close to the characters since they're generally such sad human beings. My wife says he's smug, I say he's a realist. However, compared to other Banks novels, Bone is a joyride. Plenty or lighter moments and a protagonist who's spunk makes him worth cheering for if not quasi-likeable. While not a fast read, it's quite literal and moves along as quickly as the locales of the story change. Again, Banks explores familial relationships and how they're affected by societal conditions. Perhaps the only thing keeping this book from getting five stars from me is the knowledge that Continental Drift and the Sweet Hereafter exist. Every time I read a Banks book, besides Cloudsplitter, I wonder why he isn't a more popular writer with the status quo. He's a great writer and this is a good book.